Troy Contractor Pleads Guilty To Bribing Former School Board President

MADISON HEIGHTS, MI — A Troy businessman admitted Thursday he paid hundreds of thousands in bribes to the former president of the Madison District Public School board so his company could get contracts worth millions in projects within the district.

John David, 65, owner of Emergency Restoration, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. He will be sentenced on Aug. 14. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

Federal officials said David wrote over $550,000 in checks from his company to former Madison District Public School Board President Albert Morrison's company, Comfort Consulting, between 2014 and 2018, in what David described as a "pay to play" in the district.

Morrison then awarded David's company with contracts for maintenance and construction projects at schools within the district, totaling more than $3.1 million, officials said.

David paid Morrison at least $561,667, which Morrison spent on personal luxuries, including Florida vacations and a boat slip, officials said.

"Mr. David guaranteed he would receive work funded by Madison District Public Schools not by participating in a fair and transparent process, but by bribing those in positions of power," Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Office James Tarasca said.

To hide the payments from the school board and the community, Morrison denied any financial ties to David or Emergency Restoration when he was confronted during a public school board meeting, officials said.

The two also failed to disclose the payments to state auditors, officials said. Morrison was also charged with tax evasion and failure to file tax returns.

"Our community deserves school systems free of corruption," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said.